Aim-listed gold and copper exploration and development company Kefi Gold and Copper’s Gold And Minerals SLA (GMCO) joint venture (JV) in Saudi Arabia has been awarded the Umm Hijlan exploration licence, located directly south of the Hawiah exploration licence.

The licence was secured following a competitive bidding process that assessed the quality and merits of each tenderer's proposed exploration programme.

GMCO has long identified this exploration licence as a key target, given its proven extension of the southern strike continuation of the main Hawiah volcanic massive sulphide (VMS) system. 

The Umm Hijlan exploration licence consolidates a 210 km² strategic licence area for GMCO and offers the prospect of adding significant additional oxide and sulphide resources to the advanced Hawiah copper/gold/zinc/silver project.

The Hawiah and Al Godeyer VMS deposits already contain mineral resources totalling 30-million tonnes at 2.5 g/t gold-equivalent or about 2.5-million gold-equivalent ounces.

In copper equivalent terms, it represents about 30-million tonnes at 1.7% copper-equivalent, or 510 000 t of copper, based on prices of $9 500/t copper, $2 600/t zinc, $1 965/oz gold and $24/oz silver.

The Umm Hijlan exploration licence was part of the Round 7 bidding process conducted by the Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources. The award of the exploration licence was accepted by GMCO's recently appointed CE John Webster and members of the GMCO exploration team on the first day of the Future Minerals Forum, being held in Riyadh, from January 14 to 16.

"The Umm Hijlan exploration licence provides the opportunity to quickly add nearby mineral resources to the Hawiah copper/gold/zinc/silver project, which is at the definitive feasibility study stage.

“The exploration licence potentially increases the strike length of the already-[Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (Jorc)-compliant] mineralised structure from about 5 km to 9 km. Being a continuation of the same VMS system, these potential resources are likely to turbocharge the economics of the Hawiah project,” Kefi executive chairperson Harry Anagnostaras-Adams said on January 16.

He added that Umm Al Hijlan also presented the opportunity to explore large nearby mineralised intrusions, which featured a distinct style of later-stage, gold-rich mineralisation.

"The expanded Hawiah project is now a very strategic holding in the tightly held Wadi Bidah mineral district, with recent extensive pegging by the Ivanhoe Electric/Maaden JV. Hawiah already ranks in the largest 10% of VMS deposits globally and the extension into Umm Al Hijlan is expected to further elevate its rank,” Anagnostaras-Adams said.

This licence award coincides with the impending upgraded Jorc resource statement at Hawiah following last year's exploration programme. Anagnostaras-Adams said a new Jorc-compliant resource would soon be published for Jibal Qutman as well.

"Kefi is continuing to progress the strategic review of its GMCO holding, which we are targeting to be resolved in tandem with the launch of Tulu Kapi. Kefi has made it clear that the priority for its capital is to now optimise shareholder value via majority-owned projects,” he added.

Geological mapping carried out by both the Bureau de Recherches Geoligiques et Miniere (BRGM) of France and the GMCO exploration team has identified several prospective areas including the Umm Hijlan and Al Jaufir gossans, which can be traced over a discontinuous strike of 4 km. These gossans start to outcrop 5 km south along strike from the Hawiah gossan.

Historical drilling and trenching conducted by the BRGM in 1989 intersected high-grade gold mineralisation within the oxide domain of the Umm Hijlan deposit.

The intercepts from this exploration indicate that there may be a near-surface, gold-rich zone amenable to openpit mining similar to the Hawiah deposit.

The Umm Hijlan exploration licence also provides the company the opportunity to explore a separate gold system related to an intrusive contact which was also identified by the BRGM, which can be traced over a discontinuous strike of 10 km.

The Mamilah gold system outcrops at several locations presenting as lenses of mineralised quartz veins with thickness of up to 20 m and strike lengths of up to 200 m.

The main outcrop area was tested with shallow drilling by the BRGM.

Further to this, an ambitious exploration programme has been designed to evaluate the Umm Hijlan and Al Jaufir gossans, which is likely to contain mineralisation similar to the Hawiah copper/gold/zinc orebody.

The aim was to quickly define mineral resources under these gossans and bring them to the confidence level of Hawiah and Al Godeyer deposits for inclusion in mine planning, Anagnostaras-Adams explained.

GMCO also plans to begin exploration over the Mamilah gold system and to start metallurgical, geotechnical and environmental programmes.

In addition to Kefi’s exploration projects in Saudi Arabia, it is also developing its flagship asset, the Tulu Kapi gold mine, in Ethiopia.